Osmium Guillotine – ‘Osmium Guillotine’ Album

â€˜Osmium Guillotineâ€™ is the self-titled, debut album from Essex four piece, Osmium Guillotine. The album has been out since June, but we are now happy to have our hands on it!

The band play a concoction of 80’s heavy metal with a touch of classic rock and a little 70’s punk thrown in for good measure. Oh, and a ton of doom, anger and a few pints of ale (more about that later).

That theme of anger runs through the entire album with a constant narrative of situations being troublesome. ‘City of Chaos’, which weâ€™ll be featuring on Shellâ€™s next show due out this Tuesday 20th January, is the sixth track of the album and sums up this feeling pretty well. The song is about the London riots of a couple of years ago, and sums up the mood of the album, that things have gone to the dogs and that we’re living in fear and under the control of emotionless, heartless organisations.

‘Hobgoblin’ is track seven and it’s here we’re introduced to the ale, with this track being an homage to one of my personal favourite ales, Wychwood’s Hobgoblin. This is a seriously good tune, to go with a seriously good beer. As the song suggests, if you’re used to your lager, you’re going to be in for a taste experience with this!

This leads in to my personal favourite track, ‘Goomba’. An unusual name for a track, Iâ€™ll admit. This is a great anthem, with a thumping rhythm that runs through after ripping in from a fairly subtle and subdued intro. The lyrics retain the passionate feeling of anger, helplessness and being lost in this modern, depressing world. By the way, the ending to this song is incredible. I’m listening to this at my laptop, with my headphones in, properly going for the air guitar. Cue very odd looks from my flatmate…

Speaking of unusual track names, letâ€™s talk about ‘Phobophobia’. ‘Phobophobia’ is the fear of being afraid, something which is helpfully explained in the song. I don’t just mention this track for its name though, the song bursts into life after a smooth intro with its powerful instrumentals set against snappy, catchy lyrics.

The album closes with ‘Subhuman’, which like the previous tracks is packed with deep, heavy riffs, hard drums and sharply delivered vocals. About half way through the song, the drums ramp up and lead into an awesome guitar solo, which again had me smiling. The track is a perfect and fitting end to this brilliantly dark album.

Osmium Guillotine’s debut album is simply fantastic, with big riffs and memorable, passionate lyrics. I’m looking forward to lots more from them on their new label, Roxeavy Music over the next few years. As a side note to the music, if you do get hold of this album, seriously check out the artwork on the cover, there’s a flaming guillotine for goodness sake!!

If you want to find out more about the band, head over to www.osmiumguillotine.com where you can also find the album, so you can have a listen yourself!

Remember to visit www.theampsession.co.uk for more new, unsigned acts, tune in to our latest show or catch up on anything youâ€™ve missed!